Nobody Wants to Read your Crappy Fic
by kieshagiesha
Summary: Formerly: Nobody Like a Mary Sue! How many times have you seen the canon characters you know and love in Avatar being thrust into horrible AUs? Or worse! With crap-tastic OCs added into the mix! This story is guaranteed to make YOUR written contribution to the fandom SO much better! Yay YOU!
1. Introduction!

**Have you ever seen an Avatar Fanfiction Description like this?:**

_This is the life of Kitara Silvermoon, a mysterious girl who happens to be Katara's great great great great great great great great great great great great granddaughter who can bend both fire and water. She has silver hair, purple eyes that are sometimes orange, perfect teeth that glimmer with intensity of a thousand suns, curves in all the right places, boobs the size of watermelons, a moon shaped birthmark on her ass, a flying peacock unicorn named Casamillianandra, neon pink wings made from a rare feathered pink dog, and purple lipstick. She wears a long gold gown that glitters like the stars in the sky. Also she is a Kung Fu master and from the future and Zuko/Sokka/Mako/Bolin/any other gorgeous male character immediately falls for her. Did I mention that her boobs were huge and that she can bend two elements and that she's from the future? Yes! Because she's the Avatar from the year 3007 A.D. who has come back in time to train under the Gaang/Krew because she lives in a totally unrealistic world where all buildings are made of green and red crystal, and bending is outlawed by a sorceress named Karen Emily McBride who is contrast to Kitara Silvermoon is very ugly and her tits are the size of lychee nuts._

_(AND LIKE OMG U CANT STEAL ANGEL SILVERMOON SHES MINE LOL AND I DON'T OWN AVATAR BUT IF I DID IT WUD BE SOOOO AWESOMEE AND I WUD TOTALLY MAKE ZUKO/MAKO/SOKKA/BOLIN ANY OTHER HOT MALE CHARACTER FALL IT LUV WITH ME LOL BUT MIKE AND BRYAN I LUV U IF UR READING THIS!1!1 AND ALSO KAREN EMILY MCBRIDE IS MINE TOO EVN THO SHES EVEIL)_

**What is wrong with this? **

**Well, a lot of things for one.**

**The main character is a Mary-Sue! **

**The story doesn't tie in to either of the Avatar series! **

**Self-insertion is being used! **

**In short, this author has created an atrocity that NO ONE wants to read.**

**But! With a little help, the author might be able to turn this horrible fic around!**

**That's where we come in!**

**We will teach YOU how to De-Sue your Mary-Sue! **

**Or De-Stu your Gary-Stu if that applies to you!**

**Fix your AU!**

**Put the poor CANON characters out of their misery!**

**Make your story somewhat bearable!**

**We will focus on:**

**-Names**

**-Stories**

**-Physical Features**

**-Shipping**

**-AUs**

**-Everything you need to know about not making your story horrible!**

**If you would like more, remember to PLEASE, R&R, Follow, Favorite! This particular author is lazy and has low self-esteem and WILL ONLY continue her stories if she KNOWS they are being read!**


	2. Naming your OC

**First Order of Business, NAMES!**

**1. As you know, Avatar: The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra are both heavily influenced by Asian cultures. Therefore, names like the following are not acceptable:**

**-Karen**

**-Emily**

**-Elizabeth**

**-Rebecca**

**-Kirsten**

**-Isabelle**

**-Cassandra**

**-Roxana**

**-Michelle**

**-Natalie**

**-Samantha**

**-Victoria**

**-**_**MARY**_** (WHY WOULD YOU EVEN…)**

**And those are just A FEW that I've seen!**

**This isn't just for females too!**

**-Mark**

**-Robert**

**-Edward**

**-Louis**

**-Zack**

**-Gertrude (Hey, I've seen it…)**

**-Dylan**

**-Steve**

**-Adam**

**-Daniel**

**-Chris**

**-Eric**

**-And MANY MORE THAN YOU WOULS CARE TO KNOW**

**Rank high among Gary-Stu names that aren't to be used in Avatar FanFiction. Save for Gertrude. That shouldn't be used in any kind of Fanfiction. Except for **_**Twilight**_** and **_**Fifty Shades of Grey**_**. All crap must go to those two fandoms.**

**2. Now, while names cannot be overly American, they cannot be overly Asian either. Names like Asami, Hiroshi, Kyoshi, and Suki are fine, but overly complicated ones are not. Think, however racist as it may seem, will American voice actors be able to say the name without butchering it? Will they constantly mispronounce? Will they sound like culturally oblivious hog-monkeys? **

**And no long Chinese names. Ling Ping Ching, Wen Cha Rui Mak, Kong Li Suong, are not only stupid, but cruel. And none of those stereotypical 'Ming Lees' or something like that.**

**And no Anime names! Despite popular opinion, Avatar is NOT an Anime.**

**3. Next! Names cannot be…well, this:**

**-Silver (Can you be any less original?)**

**-Star (Maybe you should take ideas from my paralyzed great-grandmother, It'll accomplish about the same thing…)**

**-Star**_**r**_** (Seriously…stop it.)**

**-Star**_**r**__**r**_** (I WILL CUT YOU.)**

**-Raven **

**-Fire (OR FYRE. ADDING A 'Y' DOESN'T MAKE YOUR ALREADY CRAPPY, OVERUSED NAME ANY MORE ACCEPTABLE)**

**-Ice (OR IYCE. SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE)**

**-Fury (Joy, any emotion…)**

**-Rose (Lily, Violet, Tulip, Lavender, ANY FUCKING FLOWER!)**

**-I didn't think I'd have to say this, since it is SO PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW IT, but some people have proved otherwise. NO FOOD NAMES! That means no **_**Apple**_**, no **_**Rosemary**_**, no **_**Pepper**_**, no **_**Sugar**_**, no **_**Cinnamon**_**, no **_**Spice**_**, and, um…**

**NO**_** BUTTER.**_

**I really wish I was kidding, but I'm not. Someone has named their OC **_**Butter**_**.**

**And again, those are just a few totally unacceptable names for an Avatar OC. But **_**Butter**_** isn't an acceptable name at all. Not just in Fanfiction, in real life too! Because if you have named your kid **_**Butter**_**, you have failed at parenting and subjected the poor child to years of future humiliation from peers.**

**Moving on.**

**4. Your OC cannot have the same name, or a similar name, to **_**ANY OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE SHOW**_**.**

**So there's the obvious:**

**-Aang**

**-Katara**

**-Sokka**

**-Toph**

**-Zuko**

**-Suki**

**-Korra**

**-Mako**

**-Bolin**

**-Asami**

**(And many more that I'm far too lazy to list)**

**But also, I find people doing this:**

**-Kitara**

**-Tanno**

**-Cora**

**-Zuku**

**-Sakka**

**-Kaya (Like Kya but with an added 'A.' OH HOW ORIGINAL YOU ARE SIR/MADAM)**

**FOR THE LOVE OF FOO FOO CUDDLYPOOPS, STOP IT, PLEASE! Just because you change a few letters around, doesn't mean that it's okay. **

**5. Also, Avatar characters rarely have last names. All the last names (I think) are used for people who need them.**

**-Beifong (Rich Family)**

**-Sato (Rich Family)**

**-Morishita (Rich Family)**

**-Shinobi (Famous)**

**So think before you give an OC a last name. Are they very rich and well known, like the Beifongs? Do they have a claim to fame that should be named after them, like the Satos? Are they a political family that wouldn't be referred to by first name, like the Morishitas? Or are they a minor character who simply cannot function without a last name. For Shiro Shinobi, the pro-bending announcer, it would be quite odd to just call him 'Shiro.'**

**6. Here's another thing having to do with culture. Indian names. No, not Native American, **_**Indians**_**. From India. The involvement of Indian culture and the influence in Avatar can be found on the Wiki, so I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU A LONG EXPLANATION ON THAT, BECAUSE THAT'S NOT WHAT THIS IS FOR. Okay. Well.**

**Guru Pathik is on undeniably Indian character, and Ty Lee and Combustion Man are questionable. I believe both the Fire and Air Nations might have had Indians as their first benders. Therefore, there can be Indian names, but don't name your OC Raj. Or Baljeet. That's a stupid name, and I can say that BECAUSE I AM AN INDIAN! GO DESI!**

**7. Last, but not least, the most helpful tip you will ever learn, ever. Learning this is absolutely crucial to your Fanfiction career.**

**DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT, EVER, **_**EVER **_**NAME YOUR OC…**

_**SAKURA.**_

_**NEVER.**_

_**I WILL HAVE HASOOK COME DO YOUR HOUSEHOLD CHORES IF YOU DO OTHERWISE.**_

**8. Now, with all this criteria I've given you for names, some of you less creative author might be thinking **_**Jeez well dis bitch shat on all of my ideas omg wut do I do now?**_

**I've seen many stories with very well-built OCs added.**

**-Kido, an OC made by Auroralynne (check her out, she's awesome) and her sister PandaCappuccino (pudimdepanda on Tumblr, check her out as well, she's awesome too), part of the story **_**Hurricanes and Puppy Love**_**, written by xheartxfeltx (check her out, she's awesome) is a prime example of a good, well thought-out OC.**

**-Ushio, a character that I believe was thought out by lemonorangelime (Also someone you should check out) and is Tahno's brother in an incubus!Tahno AU written by the talented zuryfics (You know what I'm going to tell you to do, right? Go look at her, as well!) is also a really cool OC, so is Vinh, another brother, and I can actually imagine Tahno having brother like that in the real cartoon, so props to you guys.**

**And there are many more! But I will give you those as we move along in the lessons to come.**

**HAPPY NAMING! AND MAKE SURE TO LEAVE SOME NAMES IN THE REVIEWS THAT YOU THINK MAY HELP PEOPLE WHO SUCK AT NAMES!**

**R&R! FAVORITE! FOLLOW! **

**READ MY OTHER FICS BECAUSE I HAVE NO SOUL AND DON'T FEEL GUILTY FOR SHAMLESSLY ADVERTSING!**

**FLAMES WILL BE USED TO GRILL SEAL JERKY!**


	3. Physical Features of your OC

**There are many, many problems with some of the OCs that I see. Although, the biggest, that I see is probably the lack of making the character's physical features believable.**

**Yes, there is makeup. Tahno, Noatak, and the Kyoshi Warriors have proved that. But, under no circumstances is there hair dye. So, your character cannot have silver hair. Yue had white hair, but that doesn't mean that EVERY SINGLE FUCKING OC HAS BEEN GIVEN UNNATRUAL HAIR COLORS DUE TO DIVINE INTERVETION.**

**But really, that is the least of our problem. First and foremost, I'd like to talk about an issue, something that pisses me off to end, something that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES is ever okay.**

**Blonde OCs. **

_**THIS IS THE FUCKING AVATAR UNIVERSE! IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET THE MEMO, IT'S A SHOW THAT IS HEAVILY, HEAVILY BASED ON ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER/INUIT CULTURES.**_

_**DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?**_

**IT MEANS NO FUCKING BLONDE OCs!**

**The following hair colors are also unacceptable.**

**-Silver (I see this a lot)**

**-Gold, as well as iridescent **_**anything **_

**-Redhead/Ginger OCs**

**-Blue (That mean no turquoise, no periwinkle, no ultramarine, etc.)**

**-Green (And similar colors)**

**-Pink, Purple, and the like…**

**-Basically everything that isn't black or a darker shade of brown, don't go lighter than Suki's auburn color. Use white/gray if the character is old.**

**Note: Despite popular opinion, Shaozu's hair IS black, but the lighting in Narook's makes it seem a light brown. Sorry guys. **

**Making your OC look perfect will only make them more of a Sue/Stu. Also, avoid using cliché phrases like:**

**-"Curves in all the right places"**

**-"Eyes sparkled like stars/sun/any given celestial body"**

**-Overexaggerated similes and metaphors, (i.e. Blue like the ocean, Green like lush grass, etc.)**

**Also, the nationality of the OC must be taken into account. Now, this varies for LoK characters. As far as we know, in A:TLA, the only mixed kids were fire/earth kids in the colonies, but in LoK, there might have been fire/water and earth/water kids.**

**Therefore, there are separate guidelines for LoK and A:TLA OCs.**

**A:TLA Guidelines are as follows:**

**For eyes: **

**-All pure Water tribe citizens have blue eyes. No person of Fire or Air is known to have this eye color.**

**-Fire nation children might have green eyes, but mostly gold, amber, or colors like brown and black. **

**-Earth Kingdom citizens are most likely to have green eyes, but amber is possible, as are brown and black.**

**-Air Nomads have grey eyes. Of course, Ty Lee had grey eyes, but many suspect because of her colorings and agility, that she might have been partly of Air Nomad heritage. **

**-The residents of Kyoshi Island, though technically Earth Kingdom citizens, have blue eyes.**

**-Foggy Swamp resident have a greenish-gray eye color, as far as we can tell.**

**For Hair:**

**-All citizens of any nation can have hair color varying from black to medium brown to auburn save for water tribe citizens, who have a range of dark brown, to a sort of chocolaty color. This excludes Foggy Swamp residents, who, as far as we know, only have black hair.**

**For Skin:**

**-Skin tones for everyone vary from light peach to tan to a dark brown like Pathik's. Of course, the Water Tribe, who, as far as we know, never stray far from the signature mocha skin tone, and the Foggy Swamp people only have a tan color skin tone.**

**LoK Guidelines are simpler, the author really hops you can comprehend them. If not, see a doctor. **

**-Fuck all the normality. Eye, skin, and hair can be any of the aforementioned colors, just as long as they correspond with the race.**

**Examples: **

**Tahno (Can you guys tell, I like talking about Tahno a lot) was said to be a member of the Foggy Swamp Tribe. I beg to differ. Tahno looks more like a fire/water child. He's a waterbender, with water tribe eyes, but fire nation skin and hair.**

**Asami was probably a fire/earth kid, Hiroshi being Fire Nation and her mother being Earth Nation. She has green eyes though, from her mom.**

**You know, Asami would also look pretty hot with blue eyes.**

**But she doesn't have them.**

**Why?**

_**IT'S GENETICALLY IMPOSSIBLE, MOTHERFUCKER**__**.**_

**So don't do it.**

**Anything else I forgot? PM me or tell me in a review! **

**R&R, follow, favorite, and check out my other stories.**

**Don't worry, I have extra pockets to store all of my excess ego. **

**Note: A few people have said that they imagine Sokka reading this! Now that I read it…I see why…**

_**YAY**_**.**


	4. MiniChapter! Clothing for your OC!

_**One problem I find in a LOT of Avatar Fanfiction is the plot. Or rather, lack thereof. Because most of the plot is replaced by overly descriptive analyses of trivial things. Don't get me wrong, descriptive writing is amazing, and a lesson I learned in second grade. But sometimes, one can go…too far.**_

Okay, let me get one thing straight—if your OC is not very important to the story, don't go into too much detail about them.

We don't HAVE to know the color of their earrings, the sentence about the bra strap peeking out from the shirt is NOT NEEDED, and we most definitely DO NOT need to hear about 'their curves in all the right places and their boobs the size of grapefruit-melons.

If it's just a random shopkeeper or something, you don't need to describe them at all.

If it is someone who has an eccentric appearance but isn't important to the story, just describe the most important detail.

If it's a character who has several appearances and does stuff in the story but isn't a major character, a few sentences will be alright.

If it is a prominent character in your story, give an assessment of the eye, hair, and skin colors, nationality, height, weight, and what KIND of clothing, as in what part of the world, and a trait that cannot be ignored or one that needs to be defined, like Zuko's scar or Aang's arrow. Anything else should only be mentioned if at all important to the story, like Katara's necklace or Mako's scarf.

Over-analysis is mostly used when talking of clothing.

But this is the least of our problems! The whole issue is people giving an OC clothing _**THAT IS NOT FITTING FOR THE TIME PERIOD.**_

_**PLEASE TELL ME, GOOD SIR, WHY THE FUCK IS YOUR OC WEARING LEVIS?**_

_**ENLIGHTEN ME, MADAM, ON WHY IN THE NAME OF FOAMING MOUTH GUY YOUR OC HAS STILETTOS ON?**_

Each category of Dos and Don'ts has a main point that you should remember. If you can recall the previous installments of this fic, the main points were not naming your OC Sakura, and not making your OC blond.

The main point for this particular chapter, which happens to be clothing, is:

No.

Jeans.

EVER.

I feel the need to remind some of you especially thickheaded folks that although there is no specific time period that the two series take place in, we can safely assume that jeans were not worn.

Neither were Osiris skate shoes, Volcom T-shirts, or Tahari cocktail dresses.

Also, your OC cannot be badass and wear a 'glittering silver gown that appeared to be made of the stars themselves.'

And it can't be gold either.

There isn't much to say about clothing, well, in the form of writing at least. I'm sure if you were to check out a talented artist such as Viria, then you would find appropriate clothing for your OCs. But don't steal ideas.

SO NOT COOL.

**Obviously, this chapter was short. It was kind of a teaser sort of thing, for my next chapter, which will be about different kinds of AUs. This is just to get back in the groove of writing, I haven't updated in ages, but, as I said in a previous story, Education. And unfortunately that entails a group project on Spain with a bunch of peasants (some people call them classmates) and judgment for watching anime. Also, I ship Giripan from Hetalia. Hard.**


	5. AUs and Plots for OC Stories

This is a fun chapter because now I can make more people feel bad about their craptastic fics. Now, I have a lot to say about this particular topic, and judging by how long I can abstain from Tumblr (korra-curry-spices, Shameless self-promo), I might have to extend this to a two, possibly three-part segment. But I've actually done a pretty good job of staying away from Tumblr **DUE TO THE FACT THAT I HAVE REACHED MY FUCKING POST LIMIT** but anyways.

Back to AUs.

See, I have two **ACTUAL, MULTICHAPTERED** stories, and they are both AUs. One's about Tahno being the Avatar and it is obviously an AU. So obvious, in fact, that I didn't even have to call it an AU. But I did. Because some of you are that dumb. And I guarantee you, I'd get a review, saying 'Omg tano wud totally nvr be de avater tht can nevr happen OMG!1!1,' if I didn't tell you it was an AU, right in the summary.

The other story is Korra going back in time. Now, I _HAVE_ to state that as an AU. Otherwise, I would be no better than those other authors, but here is a list of AUs that are never okay. Because they are overused.

The 'Two Avatars' fic: Basically when Aang got hit with lightning, the spirits made a mistake, and a new Water Avatar was born.

This was interesting the first time. The second. Even the third. But after that, it just got so out of proportion that is became as cliché as any high school fic.

Okay, first: Why does Korra meet the Water Avatar? Wouldn't she meet the Earth Avatar, because after the Water Avatar that was created during Aang's time died, then they would be reincarnated as an Earthbender? Also, if there were another Avatar, Korra or Tenzin or somebody would know about it. That's why, if you **ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO CREATE A STORY LIKE THIS** then you should really clarify that it is an AU.

The 'Half Avatar' Fic: In this delightful fic, the ability to airbend and be spiritual was given to another Avatar, a 'Half-Avatar.' If you do the math, 'half' is wrong, but I guess 'One-Third Avatar' didn't have the same ring to it.

Again. AUs are fine, Stupid, dumb, horrible AUs, even AUs where the Krew/Gaang are all Krusty Krab employees or where Finn falls in love with Jinora. But this…it isn't even interesting. It isn't like a Snape/Teletubbies smutty crossover. It isn't something you can make a fuss over. It's boring, and it clogs up the list of fics, smothering all the quality writing until nothing is left but an endless sea of proverbial dog shit.

**BUT IF IT IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO WRITE A STORY LIKE THIS PLEASE MAKE SURE EVERYONE KNOWS THAT IT IS AN AU, AND NOT SOMETHING YOU BELIEVE WOULD ACTUALLY HAPPEN IN THE AVATAR UNIVERSE. MY STORIES HAVE A LOT OF FLAWS. I KNOW. GET OVER IT.**

The 'Double Bender' Fic: To summarize this atrocity, this is where a person who is not the Avatar can bend two elements.

I have seen.

So many.

So fucking many.

And the thing is…it's not an AU. What, 'An AU where there are people who can bend two elements,' because I don't think so. That's just contradicting the logic of Mike and Bryan. And we all know what happened the last time we tried that. Something along the lines of…oh yes, Kataangers: 1, Zutarians: 0.

The 'Future Avatar' Fic: Mary-Sue Avatar from the year 3000 is taken back in time to learn bending from the Gaang/Krew, and somehow saves them from their respective villains:

Probably the worst, because all the future Avatars are Mary-Sues, and they all fall in love with canon characters. And then they just randomly save the day.

_**LIKE EXCUSE ME, BRYKE HAD BEEN WORKING THEIR ASSES OFF TO CREAT A BALANCED PLOT TO DEFEAT OZAI, AND EVEN THE COMBINED FORCES OF, GEE I DON'T KNOW, TWO ENTIRE NATIONS, THE TRAITOR PRINCE OF THE RIVAL NATION, AND THE FUCKING AVATAR HAD DIFFICULTY WITH IT, AND SUDDENLY, SOME SILVER-HAIRED, BID BOOBED OC COMES OUT OF NOWHERED AND DOES WHAT TOOK AANG ABOUT 60 EPISODES, AND THEN IMMEDIATELY SPREADS HER LEGS FOR ZUKO, SOMETHING THAT ALSO TOOK AANG ABOUT 60 EPISODES.**_

I'm only kidding about that last part.

But anyways, lastly:

The dreaded, absolutely positively awful…

**HIGH**

**SCHOOL**

**FIC**

Some high school fics are pretty cool. My favorite is _Perhaps in Another Life_, by **BizarreSerenity**. See, now I'm shamelessly promoting others. That's how nice I am. Ehe.

But anyways, that fic is a good example of a high school fic, because there is _some other_ _element_ to make it interesting. It's not just the Typical Makorra/Kataang/Zutara bland high school fic. Also, I've never gotten the whole 'no-bending' thing. Like, seriously. This entire show was based on bending. If there was no bending, there would be:

-Little Plot

-Therefore romance would be totally overdone

-It would be cheesy

-Just a bunch of undeveloped characters doing the same things over and over and wallowing in their own self-pity

Funny, those are all the elements of a typical high school fic.

Take BizarreSerenity's story. Although the modern-day Korra couldn't bend, they included bending in the story. The author acknowledged, that at one point, there was bending, and the modern-day Korra and Amon knew this.

If you absolutely must write a high school, fic, in a world where bending doesn't exist, make it accurate. Make it believable. Now, I haven't read _**SRU**_, due to the fact that it so long. But I will. Because it sounds pretty damn awesome. I read the first chapter, actually. It was amazing.

Sometimes, I read the occasional, typical high school fic. Mostly just for porn.

I am a hypocrite. But, I'm a hardcore shipper, so if I find porn about my OTP, I read it.

**THIS BRINGS ME TO MY NEXT TOPIC:**

**SHIPPING.**

Now, you may think that shipping is quite easy to explain, right? All I have to tell you is 'No self-insertion,' and people would get the message?

I don't know what world you have been living in, but in my world people are extremely dense, and cannot get it passed their thick skulls that **IT IS NOT OKAY TO PAIR YOURSELF WITH SOME CANON CHARACTER. **

**EVER. **

**NOT NOW,**

**NOT TOMORROW,**

**NOT IN A MILLION AVATAR CYCLES.**

**NEVER:**

**NOT.**

**EVER.**

**AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF REVIEWS I WANT TO LEAVE ON THESE KINDS OF STORIES. BUT IN ORDER TO AVOID BEING HATED BY THE FANDOM, I MUST HOLD MY TONGUE.**

**I HAVE SEEN STORIES LIKE:**

'**WHEN ANNG GETS HIS HEART BROKEN A FTER HE SEES KATAR CHEATING ON HIM WITH ZUKO, A MYSTERIOUS GIRL SHOWS UP AT HIS DOORSTEMP AND TEACHES HIMM HOW TO LOVE AGAING'**

**OR**

'**AFTER BOLIN SEENS KORRA KISING MAKO RIGHT AFTER THEIR DATE HE SI HEARDBROKEN SO THEN A HE WAKES UP IN THE MORING AND HES IN BED WITH ME'**

**OR **

'**TAHNO IS SAD AFTERHE LOSES HIS BENDING UNTIL ONE A DAY A BEAUTIFUL LADY WHO LOOKA A LOT LIKEM KORRA BUMOS INTO HIM AT THE GROCERY STORE AND THEY FALL IN LOVE AND THEY BUILD A FAMILY'**

**DO YOU THINK I'M FUCKING KIDDING? SELF-INSERTION IS THE WORST KIND OF STORY, EVER, PERIOD. IT IS WORSE THAN A BLOND OC NAMED SAKURA WHO WEARS JEANS AND SNEAKERS. AND THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING.**

Whew. Sorry, I need a breath. I just have a lot of feelings, okay? But the whole purpose of this guide is to make sure we never see a terrible OC ever again. That's why, I implore, _**RATE, REVIEW, AND FAVORITE! SHARE THIS WITH ALL YOUR FELLOW FANFICTION WRITERS WHO ARE CREATING AN OC!**_

_**IT'S NOT JUST TO BOOST **_**MY **_**EGO, BUT IT IS FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF THE FANDOM!**_

_**THIS ISN'T JUST ANOTHER SHAMELESS SELF PROMO! I'LL HAVE ONE OF THOSE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER! **_

_**BUT THIS IS FOR THE BEST INTERESTS OF EVERYONE! WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN A SUE-FREE WORLD?**_

And now for the shameless self-promo (skip if you are offended by ungrateful authors with big egos, or if you don't ship Tahorra):

_I'm a bit peeved…when I was voting for the Tahorra week themes on Tumblr; I saw that Avatar Tahno was one of the themes. Now as you know, I have an Avatar Tahno story. Now, if you think I'm trying to say that no one else can do Avatar Tahno, you're wrong. I'm not saying that. What pissed me off are the people that say 'Wow Avatar Tahno that could be an interesting concept! Gosh, I've never seen that before!'_

_I don't know if it's because my story isn't written well, or because it's in the M section, but I'm not getting many responses. Believe me, it's not me being self-centered, but I do have a lot of other stories, and I'm not going to keep working on one if no one reads it. _

_But it's probably because it's not written well. I'm way better at drabbles. And rants, like this one._

End of shameless self-promo.

Now! Honorable mentions:

_**ImNotGoodatThis**_

Read her awesome fic, it's a guide of sorts as well, called _Korra Doesn't like Fanfiction_. If you read my story, theirs is a must. All of their stories are a must, actually. Especially _Seriously? _I don't think I'll ever tire of that fic.

_**Hades378**_

You, Sir, are amazing to talk to. That is all. I'd tell you to read his fics, but he hasn't written anything yet! Get to it! You'd make a fine author.


	6. AUs and Plots for Stories

**(AN: This story started out as guide for making non-terrible OCs, but I now see that it has turned into a guide for any kind of story, even one with canon characters. The last chapter, I felt, is more appropriate to writers using the canon characters and no OCs, and so is this chapter. Does that make sense? I see horrendous stories with no OCs, but they are just as bad as any Blonde OC, Half-Avatar story. I need to address those. If you can see, I changed the title, as well as the summary and first chapter. So here goes.)**

If you remember, my last chapter was describing some plots and AUs that were **NOT OKAY**. But, since some of you are that dull, I'm going to give you a list of Bad AUs and plots that are not so common, but horrible nonetheless, and should be avoided. Also, since I can be nice on occasion, I will help you with your OC stories, by giving you some plot bunnies and OCs to make a story out of.

But now, for our feature presentation…Bad AUs, plots, and such:

Twilight crossover: **NO. NONONO, NONO, NO NONO, NONONONONONO. NO.**__

Why.

Why this.

Why must you hurt me in this way?

I just…I don't…I…god dammit…it's just…no. I can't and I won't and I refuse to can. I mean, fine make them vampires or werewolves or mermaids or incubus or really anything like that, but for the love of Ummi, _**DON'T ADD POKERFACE PANTS GENERIC FEMALE PROTAGONIST OR HER SEXUALLY CONFUSED SPARKLY BOYFRIEND OR HER OTHER SEXUALLY CONFUSED BOYFRIEND WHO BELONGS ON JERSEY SHORE. **_

In short, Twilight/Avatar crossovers suck.

Twilight/Anything crossovers suck.

Twilight sucks.

I'm sorry to all of you, um, what do you call yourselves, Twihards, yes? But I dislike your fandom.

Next:

Hunger Games/Harry Potter crossovers: I love the Hunger Games. And I LOVE Harry Potter with a burning passion. But there is a difference between a crossover and an AU.

A crossover is when the characters from all the series used in your crossover meet, and solve the shows problem and defeat their respective villains together. It goes a little like this:

**WHEN THE CHOSEN ON EAND THE AVATRA MEET AND THEY FIND THAT VOLDEMORT HAS GROWN STROUNGER THAHN EVER AND TWEN THE MORTAL WORLD AND THAT SPIRIT WORLD COLLIDE THEY MUST BOTH WORK TOGTEHER ALONG WITH THEIR FRIENDS TO BRINGS DOWN THE VILLINA AND AVE THE DAY. **

Or in the case of The Hunger Games:

**WHEN TRIBUTES KATNISS AND PEETA MUST COMPETE IN THE DREAESD HUNGER GAMES FOR A THIRD TIME, THEY MEET SOME REMARKABLE PEOPE CALLED BENDERS WHO TEACH THEM HOW TO MANIPULATE TH ELELEMENTS, AND THEN THEY WILL HELP TEHM WITH THE HUNGER GMAES **

Ah, no.

Don't do crossovers. Do AUs. How about an AU where students at Hogwarts are benders and nonbenders, but bending exists? Using CANON characters?

Or an AU where CANON characters compete in a Hunger games-esque thing?

Yes, I know that there is a crossover section, but, well, if you had half a brain, you would understand that literal crossovers never and well. Also, crack fics are fine. Small, humorous one-shots, where things like Korra teasing Edward Elric about his height or Aang and Captain America talking about how dreadful it was being stuck in a block of ice for, like, ever.

The one exception to this rule is LoK and AtLA crossovers. Those are fine, because, they're kind of the same universe already.

Now here's where it gets tricky. When you do an AU, you're not trying to replace the characters of the series with the characters of Avatar.

So don't do, like, Korra as Katniss and Mako as Peeta.

Or, like, Aang as Harry and Katara as Ginny.

Like, yeah.

Do you understand what I'm trying to say? And, honestly, it's hard to find a match for all the Avatar characters if you do this, and lots may end up being horribly inaccurate, which makes for another story that no one wants to read.

Also! Try to avoid name mashups. They sound really fucking stupid, well, usually.

**PAR EXEMPLE:**

The Little Mermako.

Okay, Mermako sounds fine, really. But how dumb would it be if Korra was Korric (Korra + Eric=Korric, BTW)

And if Bolin was Bolounder (Bolin + Flounder), and Tenzin was Sebastianzin (I think you can do this buy yourself now)?

Really fucking lame.

So thank you, pinkaffinity, for making a smart choice. Side note, I love your story. Shameless advertising is my specialty.

OKAY! SO NOW THAT YOU'VE READ THIS HORRIBLE EXCUSE FOR A CHAPTER, YOU CAN NOW WRTE AN AU THAT IS, AT THE VERY LEAST, MEDIOCRE, AND THAT MEANS I'VE DONE MY JOB!

**NOW FOR MORE ADVERTISING:**

ImNotGoodatThis has put out another fic about Koraang and its inner workings.

Yeah, it's pretty damn fabulous, so…yeah.

Read, review, favorite, and follow the fucking shit out of it.

…

You know when you see a fic, that must have taken lot of time and effort to write, and the author's put up, like, ten chapters, and only gets, like, 10 reviews, and half of them are from the same person?

Well this is how I felt when I saw the marvelous fic, Stone Cold, and its sequel, Titanium.

Written by author _Year of the Peacock_, this fic, an account of Bolin, and how he is not the innocent boy the show portrayed him as. It shows his internal struggles, as well as an outside point of view. It's Bosami, but not romance-centric.

So rape the life out of _THAT_ review button too.

…

Also, for Tahorra week, azurezury has written a wonderful little drabble about two of life's best things: Tahno and Korra having sex, and baking cakes.

…

This is all for this chapter!

Next chapter preview:

_Now, chances are, if you've written a multichaptered fic, you've probably made the characters a bit OOC. This is fine, and I realize that keeping them IC all the time is boring. But unless you're writing crack, things like Tenzin tripping on acid and Asami being a female rapist are not usually okay._


End file.
